Obama's immigration speech was full of tired cliches, say CAPS

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nonpartisan group, Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS), has announced its opposition to an immigration proposal from President Obama that call for an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"We have been there before, and it did not work. The 1986 amnesty of three million led to an increase in illegal immigration and to our present situation where we have 11 million unauthorized aliens in the country," said Marilyn DeYoung, Chairman of the Board of CAPS.

"Tired cliches about the American immigrant experience offer little help in forming a modern immigration policy. We are a nation of 315 million on a planet of 7 billion and the United States will reach 500 million quickly if this "bipartisan" Senate proposal or the similar Obama immigration proposal are passed. Not everyone can move to America and we need a policy that recognizes that fact. With over 12 million unemployed workers here, we don't need the massive immigration that undercuts our jobless citizens and working poor."

"We know what real immigration reform entails. In 1996, Barbara Jordan and the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform called for lower levels of immigration and enforcement of our laws against illegal immigration. It certainly did not call for amnesty," stated DeYoung.

Jordan testified to Congress that American needed an immigration policy where "those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave," and that there is a responsibility "to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest."

"Amnesty legislation serves political interests, not the national interest. It's passage would perpetuate and exacerbate our current population growth (already at 1.5% a year) and economic crises problems," DeYoung said.